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NetWellness provides the highest quality health information and education services created and evaluated by faculty of our partner universities.
Friday, July 4, 2008
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NetWellness provides the highest quality health information and education services created and evaluated by faculty of our partner universities.
Friday, July 4, 2008
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Addiction and Substance Abuse |
Gambling addiction04/29/2008 10:07PM |
What would cause a person to suddenly develop a gambling addiction when they are in their 50s?
Certain medications used to treat Parkinson's disease (such as pramipexole and ropinirole) have, as a very rare side effect, the sudden onset of gambling addiction, in a person who previously never had problems with gambling. The exact mechanism of this side effect is not clearly understood, but because these 2 medications are dopamine agonists (that is, they turn on the dopamine receptor) and because addiction is related to a dysfunction in the dopamine/reward system of the brain, researchers speculate that the gambling addiction may be triggered by too much dopamine in the brain.
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Christina M Delos Reyes, MD Director and Instructor Addiction Psychiatry Fellowship Program Department of Psychiatry University Hospitals School of Medicine Case Western Reserve University |
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